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Hansen joins Halos as assistant hitting coach

Hansen joins Halos as assistant hitting coach

ANAHEIM -- The Angels announced the hiring of Dave Hansen as an assistant hitting coach on Wednesday, rounding out a Mike Scioscia-led coaching staff that included one promotion and four new hires.

Hansen, who will work under new hitting coach Don Baylor, was a longtime Dodgers infielder who previously had hitting-coach stints with the Dodgers and Mariners.

The 45-year-old Southern California product joins Baylor, Gary DiSarcina (third-base coach) and Rick Eckstein (Major League player information coach) as offseason additions, with Dino Ebel getting promoted from third base to the bench, Jim Eppard getting reassigned as a second Minor League hitting coordinator and Rob Picciolo getting dismissed from his post as bench coach.

Hansen, a second-round Draft pick by the Dodgers in 1986, spent 11 of his 15 Major League seasons in Los Angeles, posting a .262/.357/.372 slash line in 884 games while serving mostly as a utility infielder and pinch-hitter extraordinaire. During his 15-year career, Hanson notched the fourth-most hits as a pinch-hitter in history, with 139.

From 2007-10, Hansen was a hitting coach in the D-backs' Minor League system, coinciding with Jerry Dipoto's tenure in the front office. He became the Dodgers' secondary hitting coach for the 2011 season, was promoted to interim hitting coach midway through, was retained for the job the following year and then got dismissed after the 2012 season.

Hansen was the hitting coach in Seattle in 2013. After manager Eric Wedge departed, though, the Mariners reconstructed their coaching staff under Lloyd McClendon and offered Hansen an assistant-hitting-coach position he ultimately did not take.